09Mar2013 Triad: Kumquat Couloir, + NW face attempt
Posted: Mon Mar 11, 2013 4:27 am
Brian Fletcher, Erik Svege and I enjoyed supreme conditions on one of The Triad's peaks, Little Richard, in a spectacular setting--much memorable climbing and skiing. Nearly 3 years ago already, Dave Brown and I forged a novel approach/deproach that we three also employed, but I still wonder if there's a better approach...the last bit of climbing to get to the Kumquat is spicy to say the least.
In Mr Scurlock's pic below, the northwest face is the steep fluted thing staring you in the face; the Kumquat couloir starts at the notch to the right of The Triad's summits (the one with the tiny aguille in it) and trends viewer's right until cutting back left:
The principal objective was the NW face, but the Kumquat is a stellar ski in its own right--completely satisfied to repeat it in splendid powder.
Wanting to climb the route to inspect conditions, we skied approx. 500' of the Kumquat, then climbed a ramp to gain the northwest face. Only a few hundred feet from the top, we were stymied by a particularly steep, narrow passage of facted/sugary snow on rock, not super 0fun to climb and certainly tricky/hazardous to ski. So we called it a good day, ripped steep pow for a few hundred, and angled back to continue our Kumquat rampage. We were able to ski it all the way down into the basin (no downclimb of lower cirque this time), then return via Lost Marbles. Awesome tour.
Some photos from our travels.
From the climb to the Kumquat; first pic of Brian climbing up towards the ridgetop doesn't adequately capture the exposure to sheer cliffs on viewer's right, or the steeper-than-it-looks big funnel to the left.
After gaining the ridge, a brief but steep downclimb in the sun was necessary; Brian took this shot of Erik downclimbing, I'm below looking into the Kumquat couloir.
Some pow turns down the upper Kumquat
After around 500' of pow, we saddled up to climb NW face.
Here's a signature Svege look as we checked stability throughout the day.
A view down from the middle part of the NW face climb.
Higher on the face. 1st pic I'm digging the swim; 2nd pic gives only a glimpse of the kind of sugar snow over rock that eventually fixed our wagon. Both of these taken by Mr Svege.
Ski NW face. Galvanizing. Brilliant.
Brian takes the first turns
I'm next
Erik's turn
Phew, safe, sound and looking forward to more mellow terrain. You can see my relief.
The ski of the lower Kumquat did not suck.
To slay it from the top will require just slightly different snow conditions...who wants another go this season?
More shots.
Edited to add photo onslaught.
In Mr Scurlock's pic below, the northwest face is the steep fluted thing staring you in the face; the Kumquat couloir starts at the notch to the right of The Triad's summits (the one with the tiny aguille in it) and trends viewer's right until cutting back left:
The principal objective was the NW face, but the Kumquat is a stellar ski in its own right--completely satisfied to repeat it in splendid powder.
Wanting to climb the route to inspect conditions, we skied approx. 500' of the Kumquat, then climbed a ramp to gain the northwest face. Only a few hundred feet from the top, we were stymied by a particularly steep, narrow passage of facted/sugary snow on rock, not super 0fun to climb and certainly tricky/hazardous to ski. So we called it a good day, ripped steep pow for a few hundred, and angled back to continue our Kumquat rampage. We were able to ski it all the way down into the basin (no downclimb of lower cirque this time), then return via Lost Marbles. Awesome tour.
Some photos from our travels.
From the climb to the Kumquat; first pic of Brian climbing up towards the ridgetop doesn't adequately capture the exposure to sheer cliffs on viewer's right, or the steeper-than-it-looks big funnel to the left.
After gaining the ridge, a brief but steep downclimb in the sun was necessary; Brian took this shot of Erik downclimbing, I'm below looking into the Kumquat couloir.
Some pow turns down the upper Kumquat
After around 500' of pow, we saddled up to climb NW face.
Here's a signature Svege look as we checked stability throughout the day.
A view down from the middle part of the NW face climb.
Higher on the face. 1st pic I'm digging the swim; 2nd pic gives only a glimpse of the kind of sugar snow over rock that eventually fixed our wagon. Both of these taken by Mr Svege.
Ski NW face. Galvanizing. Brilliant.
Brian takes the first turns
I'm next
Erik's turn
Phew, safe, sound and looking forward to more mellow terrain. You can see my relief.
The ski of the lower Kumquat did not suck.
To slay it from the top will require just slightly different snow conditions...who wants another go this season?
More shots.
Edited to add photo onslaught.
